Updates from the week of May 13-20:
Migration has progressed so quickly! I have unfortunately been rather busy lately, so I have not been able to get updates posted quite as quickly as I’d like. However, there have been some great highlights from the past week and half or so of banding that I’d like to share. So I have combined them into two posts where you can see the totals, and photos of beautiful and memorable birds.

May 13 – Lowville

We had an absolutely fantastic day on the 13th. The conditions made for a good night of migration the night before and we had a good diversity of migrants, both observed and in our nets. Ben and I were joined by young volunteers; Sarah and Sam. Sam recently endured a sports-related knee injury but still managed to make it out to the site on crutches. I find nothing motivates birders to get into the field like a potentially good migration day, injured or not! We had many lovely birds but a little flock of warblers in the nets including 3 Bay-breasted Warblers and a Blackburnian Warbler was definitely one of the highlights. Later in the morning, we started to hear the distinct buzzy song of the Blue-winged Warbler, and hoped we might catch one. By the end of the morning, we had managed to catch no less than 3 Blue-wings! The Lowville site typically catches approximately 1-2 Blue-winged Warblers per season (as per BGO), so 3 in one day was certainly an unexpected and unprecedented treat! We ended the day with 49 birds captured (35 banded), and a total of 79 species observed!!

BANDED:
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
3 Gray Catbird
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Veery
5 American Goldfinch
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
5 Common Yellowthroat
2 Yellow Warbler
4 Magnolia Warbler
2 Blackburnian Warbler
3 Blue-winged Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
3 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Indigo Bunting

RECAPS:
2 Downy Woodpecker
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Gray Catbird
1 American Goldfinch
1 Song Sparrow
2 Indigo Bunting
3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

TOTAL: 49 (35 banded, 14 recaps)

Blackburnian Warbler

I had to include two photos of this little jewel of a warbler.. male Blackburnian Warblers sport fiery orange plumage on their chest/throat, and in person it is so bright it almost glows.

Blue-winged Warblers – male on left; female on right

Bay-breasted Warbler – Such a uniquely colored warbler.. I love seeing them in their breeding plumage. The females are not as striking but still beautiful (see below).

Female Bay-breasted Warbler

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Here’s a clue that we used to help determine the age of this Red-bellied Woodpecker – the feathers just below my thumb (called the primary coverts) show at least three distinct generations (or ages of) feathers which helped us figure out this bird is at least four years old! In banding lingo that’s After-third-year

May 16 – Lowville

Migration was fantastic the night of May15/16 and we had tons of birds foraging in the canopy at the site, but unfortunately it was a rainy wet day so we were only able to open our nets for a couple hours in the morning. We got them open again later in the afternoon once the rain let up, but by then the bird activity had slowed significantly. We did catch a pair of Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers though, which was exciting because this is the first time this species has been caught at the Lowville site!

BANDED:
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
1 Traill’s Flycatcher
2 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
4 Gray Catbird
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Magnolia Warbler
1 Tennessee Warbler
2 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Ovenbird

RECAPS:
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Gray Catbird
1 American Goldfinch
1 Baltimore Oriole
1 Common Yellowthroat

TOTAL: 22 (16 banded, 6 recaps)

The Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher is a tiny bird.. about the size of kinglet but with a long tail. They are not particularly uncommon in our area but because of their habit of staying in the canopy, this is the first time we’ve been lucky enough to catch them. We suspect they are building a nest somewhere nearby!

Traill’s Flycatcher – we heard both Willow and Alder singing near our nets, but unfortunately this bird flew off silently upon release so we were not able to identify it down to species (which is usually the case).

Chestnut-sided Warbler (male)

Red-eyed Vireo – this was the first one of the season!

May 17 – Lowville

BANDED:
2 Tree Swallow
1 Red-eyed Vireo
4 Gray Catbird
1 Baltimore Oriole
5 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
2 Tennessee Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
2 Ovenbird
2 Indigo Bunting
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

RECAPS:
1 American Robin
3 Gray Catbird
4 Baltimore Oriole
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Indigo Bunting

TOTAL: 33 (23 banded, 10 recaps)

Tree Swallow! The first individual to be banded at the Lowville site! You might be able to notice in this photo, this bird actually has a mild beak deformation. It certainly doesn’t seem to be having a negative impact on the bird, s/he was in very healthy body condition.

These two Tree Swallows hit the net together (and were released together). Notice how long their wings are. These birds seem like they are “all wing” when you see them up close, which makes sense since swallows live the majority of their waking life flying.

Ovenbird

Baltimore Oriole – this after-second-year male oriole has such bright orange plumage that the area right on the front of his breast is approaching almost reddish orange! So incredibly vibrant.

~Update continued in Part 2~

May 12, 2022 – Lowville

Today felt like a day filled with color.. not only are the plants all suddenly bursting with flowers and new leaf growth, but we also had many colorful birds today. For starters, the site seemed like it was overflowing with Baltimore Orioles. They were everywhere; calling, singing, and of course fighting with each other. I think perhaps a lot of orioles must be migrating through our area right now, and we ended up catching 10 orioles for the day which makes them the second most numerous bird we caught, the first being American Goldfinches. I also had an amazing surprise on my first net check… this was the first morning of the season that I finally heard the songs and calls of Scarlet Tanagers. I thought, ‘that’s awesome that they’re back’, but didn’t really expect to catch them since they typically hang out in the forest canopy. Was I ever thrilled to see two glowing red dots as I approached the first net: two male tanagers in the net! I think they probably got caught because they swooped low while chasing each other. In addition to tanagers and orioles, the Indigo Buntings have also arrived back!

BANDED:

1 Blue Jay
1 American Robin
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Gray Catbird
10 American Goldfinch
1 Least Flycatcher
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Black-and-white Warbler
2 White-throated Sparrow
7 Baltimore Oriole
3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

RECAPS:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 American Robin
2 Gray Catbird
2 American Goldfinch
1 Common Yellowthroat
3 Baltimore Oriole
1 Indigo Bunting
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

TOTAL: 46 (33 banded, 13 recaps)

Scarlet Tanager (male)

Scarlet Tanager

Male Indigo Bunting

Baltimore Oriole

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks not only have a beautiful rose colored breast but they also have rose colored underwing coverts that you can see in flight.

May 10, 2022 – Lowville

We had an interesting day at Lowville on May 10.. the day started out rather slow with only a few birds on the first net run. We often expect the first couple net checks to be the busiest as birds are very active right at dawn. For this reason, I thought perhaps we were in for a slow day, but I was surprised when things picked up a bit around 9:30am. After a relatively quiet early morning, we started hearing (and catching!) some warblers. One of which was an Orange-crowned Warbler – our second this spring which is great considering they are an uncommon spring migrant in our area. Another highlight was an absolutely stunning Cape May Warbler in the nets at around 11:30am. I even had one last bird (a Chestnut-sided Warbler) fly into the nets at noon as I was attempting to close up. After a somewhat slow start, I was very pleasantly surprised with how the day turned out! See numbers and photo highlights below.

BANDED:

1 Least Flycatcher
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Gray Catbird
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Wood Thrush
4 American Goldfinch
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
3 Baltimore Oriole
3 Common Yellowthroat
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
3 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Cape May Warbler
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

RECAPS:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 American Goldfinch
1 White-throated Sparrow

TOTAL: 34 (29 banded, 5 recaps)

Cape May Warbler – a stunning male sporting some absolutely gorgeous colors. These birds are always a thrill to see up close.

Cape May Warblers only briefly migrate through the great lakes area on their way to and from the northern boreal forest where they breed. Like a few other boreal bird species, they have a special relationship with an insect called the spruce budworm which makes up a large proportion of their diet. Cape May Warblers can have population ‘boom’ and ‘bust’ years depending on whether there has been sufficient amounts of spruce budworm for them to feed on.

Wood Thrush – we kept hearing a Wood Thrush singing and calling throughout the morning. Mid-morning the singing briefly stopped and we were thrilled to see this bird in the net. Such a beautiful thrush. Photo: Sarah Sharp

Wood Thrush

Ruby-throated Hummingbird – these little jewels have finally arrived back! We don’t band them but if we do catch them we briefly admire them for just a moment before releasing them to go on their way.

Orange-crowned Warbler – now the 2nd caught at the Lowville site this spring!

Lincoln’s Sparrow – the season’s first of the species for Lowville

Chestnut-sided Warbler – another season first, and we caught 3 of them today!

I spotted this very odd looking insect crawling on our banding table as I was doing paperwork. It almost appears armored, like an armadillo, and after some research, we discovered it is the larval stage of something called the Spring Treetop Flasher (Pyractomena borealis) – a firefly that displays in spring, as opposed to summer like most fireflies. So if you’re out on spring night, look for fireflies flashing in the trees!

May 06, 2022 – Lowville

It  was a pleasantly overcast, which was a nice surprise considering the forecast was calling for a sunny day. To some, this may sound like a strange thing to be happy about, but as a bander/birder sometimes slightly inclement weather is better. For example, we tend to catch more when it’s overcast because the birds can’t see the nets as easily, plus the birds tend to stay active later into the day when it’s overcast or foggy. I was joined by Sarah to open nets, and we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise. It seemed like the weather the previous night might make for a good number of migrants arriving to our area, and that was certainly true! We had a busy first net run which produced almost half of our birds for the day. This included a few notable birds: the first Common Yellowthroat of the season, a Black-and-white Warbler, and a stunning Black-throated Blue Warbler (also first of the season). The neotropical migrants are finally starting to arrive, and we should only be seeing more of them in the near future. We are about to enter what is personally my favorite part of migration, and I’m so excited to see what the next couple weeks bring.

BANDED:

1 House Wren
6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Swamp Sparrow
11 White-throated Sparrow
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Yellow Warbler
3 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal

RECAPS:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Hermit Thrush
1 American Goldfinch
1 Song Sparrow
5 White-throated Sparrow
1 Northern Cardinal

TOTAL: 36 (26 banded, 10 recaps)

Such a beautiful bird; this male Black-throated Blue Warbler was our first of the season. Although they are a fairly common migrant in our area, they are always a treat to catch. You can see that little white patch on his wing which is a diagnostic ID feature for the species. The male is easy enough to identify but this feature can be very helpful in identifying female Black-throated Blue Warblers in the field since they don’t have the bright blue plumage that the male does.

A beautiful male Common Yellowthroat. A common breeder at our site, this was our first of the year. Nice to see them back!

Yellow Warbler – another season first

Yellow Warblers are one of very few warblers to have yellow in their tail – many of the other warblers we get have white in their outer tail feathers. One of the only others we would see in our area to have any yellow in the tail would be female/young male American Redstarts.

Fern fiddleheads are emerging